Franke has a long tradition of collaborating with scientists and universities. Over the years, a close partnership has been established with Aalen University and benefits both parties in many ways.
The principle of sharing knowledge with scientists goes right back to company founder Erich Franke. When he developed the wire race bearing in the early 1930s, he was in close collaboration with Professor Dr Walther Bauersfeld on the theoretical calculations. A qualified mechanical engineer, he was one of the Managing Directors of ZEISS and also an associate professor for special areas of physics at the University of Jena.
In 1963, Erich Franke was one of the founding members of the Förderverein der Hochschule Aalen e. V., and Daniel Groz is still an active member today. For a long time, there was no institutionalised collaboration. The same is true of Reutlingen University, with which Managing Director Michael Helbig established strong links in the 1980s through his private friendship with Professor Nieß. The exchange of knowledge with Reutlingen University mainly consisted of specialist lectures. The collaboration reached a new level in 2004 in the form of an in-service training programme focusing on innovation management, held on Friday afternoons and Saturdays. On the subject of innovation: It was through this very training programme that Daniel Groz and Sascha Eberhard first become acquainted.
Under their leadership since 2007, the partnership with Aalen University has been systematically expanded – initially in mechanical engineering, but then also in the commercial field, for example in the “Business Administration for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises” programme. Alongside the academic exchange of knowledge, there are now joint networking events and study projects in which Franke is involved. For example, in the student management consultancy “InnoConsult” for the development of sustainability concepts or in a transfer project to interlink theory and practice in overcoming the coronavirus crisis. In addition, students from the university are regular guests at Franke – during their practical semester, as working students or in connection with their bachelor’s or master’s theses. Quite a few of them then secure a permanent job at Franke. Franke is also a founding member of the Inno-Z innovation centre in Aalen. One of Franke’s most recent projects is also the result of the company’s partnership with the university: Namely, the digitalisation of sales with a customer relationship marketing tool as part of the “Neustart” project, which is based on a keynote speech by Professor Dr Alexander Grohmann. He is supporting the associated transformation process with his scientific expertise. //